The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-12
AsroRY WRITER'S OPPORTUNITIES
A Talk With the Editor of Harper's
Magazine on an Interesting Subject.

A Talk With the Editor of Harper's
Magazine on an Interesting Subject,
NEW YORK, June 1.-THE editor of Har
per's Magazine, Mr., William NJ Alden, is
as busy man as you can find in town. His
desk is always lreaped with manuscripts of
all kinds, from all sorts of people, on all sorts
of subjects, and they come from all parts of
the universe. The first impression one gets
as he looks at Mr.. Alden's desk Is that one of
Uncle Sans mail sacks has been enptied
upon it. Thisis far from true, because the
letters piled there have been very carefully
read by another person, whose duty it is to
sift the wheat from the chaff and TO decide
whether the articles he reads are ner1tor-
ious. If he thinks so he outlines the plot in
few lines on little slip of paper, pins it to
the article, and sends it to Mr.. Alden, who
is final arbiter, and who decides whether any
of the articles shall be used. A good deal
depends upon availability. A very good ar
ticie may be too long or too short, or may
have been recently touched upon, or else
contain some idea that the editor does not
approve. But let Mr. Alden speak for him
self.
what chance is there for young writer
in New York nowadaysW ask.
"A fair chance, ] think" he replies.
What mean is, suppose a young man or
capital than supposed talent for writing.
What sort of Roadway could they make
and what are their chances of successm
''The chances are greatly against them
making money My long experience as
magazine editor has given me abundant OPP
portunity to study the subject; therefore
can speak from experience and not
from conjecture, Take young man
fresh from college, a student of
literature, who has given evidence of fine
talents during his course of study, and he
will be least likely of any to succeed as
magazine or newspaper writer. The reason
is obvious His mind his been dwelling in
the past his attention has been absorbed in
text books while the fleeting events of the
passing day remain UNDECIDED. Set him
down to pen an article and he will in all
probability write an elaborate and learned
disquisition on some subject which has no
timely or public interest. The magazine
idea, as embodied in Harper's Monthly and
the Century, has much of newspaper char
acter What we want IS something novel
and interesting, some exclusive information
Of Importance, some stirring description of
contemporaneous character. 1t Is the mat
ter we desire, not the style, although good
writing is also an essential element in maya
zine articles. You can see, therefore, the
difficulties in the way of newcomers. In
the first place, it Is not an easy matter to
hit upon an acceptable subject, and in the
second place two-thirds of the articles that
appear each month liz the leading period
Gals have originated in the editorial rooms
and been assigned to writers of established
reputation to be worked up. About the
average number Of articles to one issue of a
magazine like HdTper's is fourteen Take the
hundreds sent in for each number and you
can judge for yourself how limited the
chances of success are y
'FWhat kind of literature is most likely to
meet acceptancew
''Short stories and poems. Women are
far more successful in writing these than
men. They are better equipped to meet the
demands of the age. Most stories sent to
the magazines by men elnbody some attempt
at plot. Now, almost every conceivable
plot has been invented, and it is almost a
miracle when anything strikingly original
comes to us. Women, on the other hand, are
more apt to employ situations which admit
of portrayal of subtle shades of feeling.
These are the successful story writers Of the
present day. In poems the same holds good
Men write poems of description and action,
women Of passion and feeling"
"Can you mention a few men who
have made their way to reputation through
the medium of the magazineS!"
Eyes, there is Robert Burns Wilson, the
poet. He has never published a volume of
verse to my knowledge, yet his reputation
stands high Then there is Joel Chandler
Harris who first made hit by his contribu-
tons to periodical literature. George w.
Cable owes much to the magazines, and so
does Tom Paige. | could mention num-
Der of others, such as W. H. Bishop, but
their number is small compared with
the number of women who have sue
ceeded.'
"How are articles and stories paid for by
periodicals."
well, the best of them have an estab-
ished rate, generally $40 per 1000 words.
OF course this is not an inflexible rule. Some
especially good articles are paid special
prices. For example, we have paid as high
as 81 900 for five page poem. Stories gen
orally run from 800 to $3.50. The prices
fuctuatea great deal. Much depends upon
the reputation of the author. A man like
Bret Harte or woman like Constance Feni-
more Woolson can make demands which
others could not. Generally speaking young
writer's have poor chance to make living
from the magazines. Some prefer TO try a
book, but publishers are chary and the in
ternational copyright is still a thing of the
future. Young writer's, however, should
consider this, very few of the successful lit
erary men of the day achieved reputation
until late in life. If they have talent let that
give them confidence that they will sooner
or later gain the reputation they so much
covet.n FOSTER COATES.